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13102. Linnea - 1/7/2005 5:45:47 PM The sidewalks were all well shovelled today, so I just walked from my car.
Mago, I would be a much more regular skier if the weather would cooperate. Last year there was a grand total of about 10 days with enough snow on the ground to ski. When there is snow, I have my own private trail out of my back yard through some adjacent woods and fields.
My body loves to ski cross-country. It gets all my back and hip and leg and stomach muscles working together in just the right way. Downhill skiing doesn't do it for me - it's all about balancing yourself against the overwhelming pull of gravity, rather than moving under your own power. At my level of skill, it usually involves going much faster than I would really like to. Nordictraks don't do it either - going in a straight line on a level plane makes my ankles hurt. Besides, being outside in the cold and the quiet is an integral part of the experience.
My body really likes winter. It feels right to me to be outdoors in the cold wearing lots and lots of clothing. It must be evolutionary. 13103. Magoseph - 1/7/2005 6:41:04 PM Yesterday here, a number of high school kids were taken to the police station because they went cross-country through the golf course. When asked why they did that after being warned not to do it, they said that they just couldn’t resist the temptation since we didn't have much winter the last few years. Well, for their pain, they will work this summer three weekends each, a total of 24 hours each weekend--it was that or a court date--four of the kids were 18.
I can see how cross-country skiing would be the perfect exercise. I would be afraid to attempt it, though, at this time in my life. Tell me, what do you do in the summer for exercise?
13104. PelleNilsson - 1/7/2005 7:10:53 PM Golf courses are ideal for skiing when there is only a modest snow cover or when you want a technically undemanding track. Here people ski on them all the time. 13105. iiibbb - 1/7/2005 7:17:22 PM I went cross country skiing for the first time last Christmas. My girlfriend is from a winter wonderland. It's kind-of hard to get the rhythm, but by the end of the day I was relatively mobile. I had a lot of trouble at first because the wax was wrong for the snow type... my g/f fixed it somehow. After that it became a matter of learning to turn on telemark bindings. I've been downhill skiing a long time. 13106. Max Macks - 1/7/2005 7:28:12 PM Seems kind of harsh punishment for those kids
skiing on snow covered golf course.
It aint like there would be much golfing.
Maybe it was not the skiing so much as trespassing. 13107. Linnea - 1/7/2005 7:31:54 PM Americans have funny ideas about private property, Pelle.
Mago, in the summer I ride my bike or swim as much as possible. To look at me, you wouldn't know that I exercise fairly regularly, but I can feel its effects.
13108. Magoseph - 1/7/2005 7:36:13 PM Max, the golf course is private property and I suppose the club doesn't want the grass destroyed. I know some of these kids and they are big and tall, huge in fact as most kids around here are, girls too, mostly of nordic stock, Swedish and Danish. 13109. Magoseph - 1/7/2005 7:38:06 PM Anyway, one of the mothers is a neighbor and she told me that she agrees with the punishment--I'll have three weekends of peace, she said. 13110. Magoseph - 1/7/2005 7:55:06 PM To look at me, you wouldn't know that I exercise fairly regularly, but I can feel its effects.
Yes, that's the thing about regular exercise--it's amazing what it does to one's health, that is, if accompanied with good food. My husband has walked the last six months twice a day and he looks so much better. Last winter, he had a terrible time with a virulent case of shingles, high-blood pressure, and walking pneumonia. Now he does not look any slimmer, just much healthier. 13111. Magoseph - 1/7/2005 8:18:24 PM Hey, Ali
Wines
13112. Ms. No - 1/7/2005 8:27:36 PM Linea,
Doesn't Harry Shearer's "Le Show" come from KCRW? My old station used to carry it.
It might, I'm not familiar with it although I recognize Shearer's name. Nic Harcourt is the music director at KCRW and does the Morning Becomes Eclectic and Weekend Becomes Eclectic shows.
13113. PsychProf - 1/7/2005 9:31:26 PM I saw Strudel as a definitive clue. Hey Linnea... 13114. Linnea - 1/7/2005 10:05:08 PM Hey to you too, Ozprof. 13115. judithathome - 1/7/2005 10:55:11 PM When we lived in Maine, the only time we ever lived on base, they would let us cross-country ski on the golf course...it was wonderful. So peaceful and beautiful out there. I loved it.
Naturally, I never got much practice in Texas. 13116. Ms. No - 1/7/2005 11:28:31 PM Well, there are cross-country grass skis but I don't know much about them. 13117. Max Macks - 1/7/2005 11:40:27 PM Judith
a military base in Maine.?!
13118. Magoseph - 1/7/2005 11:51:12 PM I believe the golf club's rationale is that if they let the local kids cross-country the course, how are they going to stop others from doing so? I don't think the residents here would appreciate their privacy being invaded by skiers anyway. 13119. judithathome - 1/7/2005 11:54:46 PM Yes, Max...Loring. It was in the northern-most tip of Maine, seven miles from the Canadian border. 13120. judithathome - 1/8/2005 12:02:06 AM I'm sure some of you are on PsychProf's mailing list and received this today but for those who didn't:
Here are some US statistics for 1904:
The average life expectancy in the US was 47 years.
Only 14% of the homes in the US had a bathtub. Only 8% of the homes had a telephone. A three-minute call from Denver to New York City cost $11.00
There were only 8,000 cars in the US, and only 144 miles of paved roads. The maximum speed limit in most cities was 10 mph.
Alabama, Mississippi, Iowa, and Tennessee were each more heavily populated than California. With a mere 1.4 million residents, California was only the 21st most populous state in the Union.
The tallest structure in the world was the Eiffel Tower.
Canada passed a law prohibiting poor people from entering the country for any reason.
The average wage in the US was 22 cents an hour. The average US worker made between $200 and $400 per year. A competent accountant could expect to earn $2000 per year, a dentist $2,500 per year. A veterinarian between $1,500 and $4,000 per year. A mechanical engineer about $5,000 per year.
Sugar cost four cents a pound. Eggs were fourteen cents a dozen. Coffee was fifteen cents a pound.
(cont'd) 13121. judithathome - 1/8/2005 12:02:29 AM (cont'd)
More than 95 percent of all births in the US took place at home. Ninety % of all US physicians had no college education. Instead, they attended medical schools, many of which were condemned in the press and by the government as "substandard." The five leading causes of death in the US were: 1. Pneumonia and influenza 2. Tuberculosis 3. Diarrhoea 4. Heart disease 5. Stroke. Marijuana, heroin, and morphine were all available over the counter at corner drugstores. According to one pharmacist, "Heroin clears the complexion, gives buoyancy to the mind, regulates the stomach and bowels, and is, in fact, a perfect
guardian of health."
Most women only washed their hair once a month, and used borax or egg yolks for shampoo.
The American flag had 45 stars. Arizona, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Hawaii, and Alaska hadn't been admitted to the Union yet. The population of Las Vegas, Nevada, was 30!
Crossword puzzles, canned beer, and iced tea hadn't been invented. There was no Mother's Day or Father's Day.
Two of 10 US adults couldn't read or write. Only 6% of all Americans had graduated from high school.
Eighteen percent of households in the US had at least one full-time servant or domestic. There were only about 230 reported murders in the entire US.
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